


American Beauty / American Psycho

by kendrasaunders



Category: The Flash (TV 2014)
Genre: Alternate Universe, Earth-2, F/M
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2016-02-17
Updated: 2016-02-17
Packaged: 2018-05-21 04:05:00
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,908
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/6037348
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/kendrasaunders/pseuds/kendrasaunders
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>A late night working in the Mayor's office puts city official Lisa Snart at the mercy of Reverb and his band of rogues. What happens from there is... complicated.</p>
            </blockquote>





	American Beauty / American Psycho

She has her head halfway under a desk, and she can only faintly hear the ding of the elevator in the near-empty office. She purses her lips, scanning through the bottom drawer of the filing cabinet.

“Len?” she calls. Who else would be coming in this late? He’s the only one who’d know she’s here. “Do you know where your girl put the shuttle reports? We’ve been having complaints and-”

“No wonder,” he says, and he is most certainly not her brother. “The shuttles been late for a month, now.”

It’s then that she notices three steps of footsteps, not one. Something she had overlooked with her head in the file, and something she really should’ve been paying better attention to. She swallows the nerves that flare up in the pit of her stomach. Slicks back any stray hairs.

She squares her shoulders, and rises from the desk.

She hasn’t familiarized herself with the metahuman index, though Lenny’s told her to countless times. The faces are familiar, from old mugshots and photos they blare on the news. But the names allude her, at the moment. She decides not to think of it. “The mayor’s office is closed. If you come back tomorrow, I’ll find someone to help you.”

The ringleader laughs, a low, buzzing chuckle. “That’s not really going to work out for us.”

She probably shouldn’t have left her little handgun in her office. “I’m so sorry to hear that,” she snaps.

“Is that sarcasm, Miss- ?”

“Commissioner Snart,” she corrects. “Head of Transportation, Central City.”

His lips quirk into a smirk. “Wife or-”

“Sister,” she says, though she knows she shouldn’t.

A grin. “Excellent,” he says. “Opening with good news. Smart move.”

The tilt of her head. “Excuse me?”

“He thinks you’re hot,” explains the tallest one. She tries not to stare at the thing on his chest. “And he’s glad you’re single.”

A sigh. He pinches the bridge of his nose. “Thank you, Deathstorm. Excellent. Very intimidating.”

The girl lets out a shrill laugh. 

“Okay. Alright. Perfect. So let’s just jump straight to introductions, now that everything has been ruined. I’m Reverb-”

“Reverb?” she asks. “I’m sorry, is that a joke?”

“No,” he snaps. “It’s not a joke, _Commissioner._ I’m Reverb, the big one is Deathstorm, and she’s-”

“Killer Frost,” she says.

Reverb lets out a huff. “Guys. We planned this.”

“We planned for the Mayor,” Deathstorm says.

Killer Frost toys with a lock of her hair. “And since he’s not working late, like you insisted he would be-”

“Honestly, do you two want me to kill you? Is that what you want? Do you just want to say, please, Cisco-”

Lisa finds herself grinning. “Cisco?”

The woman laughs again. “Nice one, Cisco.”

“I hate this,” Cisco says. “I hate this, I hate you both, we’re just-” He waves them away. “Shut up, and let me do business.”

“I’m sorry,” Lisa says. “Is this supposed to frighten me?”

“Yes!” Cisco says, insistently. “We probably could’ve killed you by now! So yeah. A little fear would be appreciated.”

She sucks on her teeth. “I’m working on it.”

He replies by crossing his arms. “Give us the room.”

Deathstorm gives a curt nod. “Sure thing, bossman.”

“Not a problem,” Killer Frost adds.

Cisco sighs. “Do not have sex in the elevator while we’re standing right here.”

“I have no idea what you’re talking about,” Killer Frost says.

“Or the car,” Cisco adds.

“You take all the fun out of everything,” Deathstorm says, maybe a little too incensed. “Come on babe.”

She mock pouts, taking her boyfriend’s hand. “He didn’t say anything about the mail room.”

Cisco whips his head around. “Guys-”

They’ve taken off through the stairwell.

“Fantastic,” Cisco announces, returning his attention to Lisa. “Outstanding. Did you know they have PhDs? Both of them?”

Lisa allows herself a chuckle. “Really?”

“They’ll give anyone a college degree,” Cisco says. “I mean really. Tens of thousands of dollars for what? So they can run around dressed like a circus sideshow?”

“Ah yes,” Lisa remarks. “They’re dressed strangely. And you-”

“Hey,” he protests. Slicks back his hair. “If there’s one thing I have, it’s style.”

“And that’s why you’re here,” she says. “Presumably putting me in a hostage situation. Because you have style.”

 

 

He doesn’t stop smiling. But she notes the cold glint in his gaze. “No, that’s not why.”

It’s certainly not the dangerous situation she’d figured she’d find herself in. She works for the mayor’s office, despite Lenny’s constant insistence that she should’ve stuck to something else.

Cisco is fairly casual, for a monster. Funny. Friendly.

But she’s not stupid. “What do you want?”

“Oh, come on,” he says. He takes a step forward.

She takes one back. “What?”

“I thought we had something going, here.”

She sneers. “That’s called ‘trying to stay alive.’”

“And it was working,” Cisco says. “Was.”

She balls her hand into a fist. Nails digging into palm. “How many times do I have to tell you? I’m not afraid of you.”

He tilts his head, hair falling against his shoulder. “The lady doth protest too much, methinks.” Catlike grin, too much self-worth. She doesn’t flinch. “What?” he asks. “No praise for the reference?”

“What do you want, _Cisco_?”

He waves off the question. “I can feel your heartbeat, you know,” he says. “And you are scared, but not as scared as you reasonably could be. So I guess I’m pretty impressed, Commissioner.” 

Her hand brushes the back of the closest desk chair. “What. The hell. Do you. Want?”

He sighs. “Well, I’d like you not to swing that chair at me, first and foremost.” 

She frowns.

“You know I could make your heart burst, right in your chest?” Moving closer. She thinks it may be best to stand her ground. “Just one good blast-” He points his fingers towards her heart. “And you’re toast.”

She’s taller than him, she realizes. Even without her heels, he’d look up to her. She finds this gives her butterflies, and knows that it really shouldn’t. “You’re not going to kill me.”

“Fair,” he says. “You can assume if I was, I would’ve by now. Can I tell you something, Commissioner?”

“You would even if I said no,” she says.

He’s amused by that. “I don’t really like killing,” he says. “That’s what the other two are for.”

“And here I thought they were your friends.”

He’s got a very handsome way of scoffing. “I don’t have friends.”

She resists the urge to roll her eyes. “Of course not.”

“But-” His hand brushes her arm. “I can make an exception.”

She doesn’t remember how he got within touching distance. “You must do this often.”

And this shouldn’t be so oddly romantic, so sudden and intense. She finds him too good-looking for her own health, she knows that much. And he’s clearly very attracted to her. There’s something so wildly dangerous about this whole mess that she can’t help but be a little excited by it.

“I really don’t.” He meets her gaze. “Am I just that good?”

She finds herself grinning. “No.”

He takes her wrist. Not harshly. Like a lover would. “Come on. You know I am.”

“If you’re trying to flirt with me to kill my brother-”

He rubs his thumb against her pulseline. “I told you. I don’t like killing.”

“If you want one of your... cronies to kill my brother-”

“No one has to die,” he says. “We just have to come to an arrangement, your brother and I.”

“He won’t be afraid of you.”

“Will he be afraid of Zoom?”

 

 

She wrenches her wrist from his grasp. Stumbles back. Her blood goes cold, the fondness gone. “Get out of this office.”

His smile falls, and she catches just a moment of hurt before anger seeps in. “I’m sorry. Are you trying to give me orders?” 

She snarls. “I could tell you were a monster, but I didn’t think-”

“I am not a monster,” he snaps. “I am just trying to fucking survive. Maybe if you had any iota of how bad things were-”

“Oh right, it must be so hard for you, driving the city deeper into chaos-”

“I’m sure in your privileged little bubble-”

“Privileged?!” she snaps. “You have no idea what the hell you’re talking about.”

“And you need to stop interrupting me,” he yelled. Took a moment, a deep breath. The first crack in his composure, though he quickly places it back on. “I thought we were having a moment.”

“Don’t flatter yourself,” she says.

“Listen,” he says. “If you do exactly what I want, when I want, then I will tell Zoom the Mayor’s office is all handled. Easy.”

“And what do you want?” Lisa asks.

For a second, his eyes fall to her neck. Then lower. Another break. He thinks she won’t notice the quick way he shakes his head. “To do business.”

“Then let’s do business,” she says. “You’ll find I can be very reasonable.”

“I need to speak to the mayor,” he says.

“No,” she says. “You don’t. Anything you want, I’ll handle.”

He pauses. “Why?”

“Excuse me?”

“Why are you so willing to work with me?” he asks. “With Zoom? Most usually put up more of a fight. Don’t you have any of that Central City honor?”

She narrows her eyes. “Honor is for idiots,” she says. “You’re just trying to survive? So am I. And I won’t let Zoom near my brother.”

He changes, in the tiniest of ways. Something warmer crosses his face, something like understanding. “You are one hell of an opponent.”

She makes a face. “You should see me with a gun.”

He smiles. Genuine. “I look forward to it.”

 

 

The flutter in her stomach again. The ability to forget that he is a danger that works for bigger dangers. He’s too charming for his own good.

“What do you want?”

“You keep asking that,” he says. “What answer are you looking for?”

She says nothing.

“Are you liking this?” he asks. And there goes her personal space again. There he is, and this time, his hand finds her shoulder. “Do you like being my damsel in distress?”

“I’m not in distress,” she says. “If anyone’s enjoying this, it’s you. Maybe too much.”

His fingers brush her neck. “Maybe.”

She steels her will. Takes his wrist, and pulls his hand off her body. “You wanted to discuss business?”

His grin flickers like flint. “Commissioner Snart. You may survive us yet.”

She wrinkles her nose. “Tyrion Lannister?”

He laughs. “You are so unbelievably sexy. Has anyone ever told you that?” 

She drops his wrist. “Follow me to my office.”

His hand finds the small of her back, and he waits a moment for her to push his hand away.

She doesn’t. 

He simpers up to her ear. “If you happened to have that gun in your office,” he says. “You wouldn’t be so... foolish as to try it on me, would you?”

She suppresses a shiver. “Of course not.”

“Because I would have to kill you,” he says. “And I really, really don’t want to kill you.”

“I’m still on the fence,” she says.

“I can be very persuasive,” he says.

She snickers. “Clearly.”

“Your office?” he asks, and she’s not sure he’s talking business anymore.

She imagines what his lips would feel like against hers. The warmth that unfurls in her stomach is something terrible.

She catches his eye. “Of course.”

**Author's Note:**

> I mean. I guess ASoIaF exists in Earth-2? But it's better. It's what we deserve.


End file.
